Anything worth doing is worth & requires some risk. There is no way around that. Playing it safe leads to less than extraordinary results, if it leads to any results at all. It's a lesson that is not taught in school. In fact they teach the exact opposite, they train you to get a simple, safe job that, while not satisfying, will, in theory, remain stable.

The new economy has proven that playing it safe is far from being so.

My statement about risk is nowhere near new or revolutionary, but it bears repeating because it is a chronically unlearned lesson. People refuse to take necessary risk.

I'm not talking about irresponsible risk, like unprotected sex or dumping your savings into a get rich scheme, I'm talking about calculated risk. "Looking before you leap" and "taking the leap" do not need to be mutually exclusive cliches.

I know a lot of people with good ideas. Too many of them will not take the first step. There will be plans and discussions and more plans and then more discussion and by the time the idea dies there's been way more talk than any kind of action. Oddly enough this is how most people in Hollywood operate, all talk but no action. Any body can talk, we all do, and we can sound brave and convincing when we do it, but it is meaningless without the action to back it up. Words without deeds are empty and meaningless.

So I ask, as have so many self-help professionals past, present and future, that you take action – just take that first step. The satisfaction is indescribable and will help motivate further action. There's a reason it is clichéd advice and that's because it both works and is so simple. All it takes is beating that little bit of fear that holds you back. Once you get past it there is nothing, literally nothing, you can't do.